Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus is the first instrumental and sixth overall studio album and by Omar Rodríguez-López, released by Infrasonic Sound[1][2] on September 19, 2008. It is one of four solo albums completed in 2001 by Omar Rodríguez-López during the interim period following the demise of At the Drive-In and the formation of The Mars Volta. Absence... was tracked at Doug Messenger's North Hollywood studio only a few weeks after Rodriguez-Lopez recorded A Manual Dexterity: Soundtrack Volume One there, and is comparable to that project in both sound and atmosphere.

Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus
Studio album by Omar Rodríguez-López
Released	September 19, 2008
Recorded	2001-?
Genre	Experimental rock
Length	43:41
Label	Infrasonic Sound
Producer	Omar Rodríguez-López
Omar Rodríguez-López solo chronology
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & Jeremy Michael Ward (2008) Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus (2008) Minor Cuts and Scrapes in the Bushes Ahead (2008)
Omar Rodríguez-López chronology
The Bedlam in Goliath (2008) Absence Makes the Heart Grow Fungus (2008) Octahedron (2009)

The album features several tracks that were "originally intended for use by The Mars Volta". The second half of "Hands Tied to the Roots of a Hemorrhage" was reworked as a middle section of "Eriatarka" on The Mars Volta's first full-length, De-loused in the Comatorium. "Tied Prom Digs on the Docks" features musical ideas that were later used on "Cassandra Gemini" on Frances the Mute. In addition, the song "Teflon" from the 2009 album Octahedron would be based on the instrumental "A Story Teeth Rotted For".

No personnel credits are listed in the insert for either the LP or CD, though it features a photograph of Jeremy Michael Ward never seen prior to this release. According to press release, Ward didn't play on the album but was present during the sessions.